from the introduction:
This adventure is designed for a group of 4-6 characters of beginning or low experience characters. A group with a variety of skills will do better than one that is purely focused in one area (combat, for example). An attempt has been made to make encounters in a way that all of the skills could prove useful, but also in a way that groups without the appropriate skill can still complete the mission.

from the PC Background:
About two months ago, a deep-space salvage team discovered what they thought to be a derelict Pan-Galactic freighter. On approach, they realized that the derelict was actually an alien designed craft. The crew sent a report to their base (the Ch'kitdo Group based in Port Loren) and docked with the derelict. The crew was never heard from again. Their ship, the Grazzralk Sea, has drifted back into Frontier space, and is itself now a derelict. The Ch'kitdo Group would like to hire the PCs to find out what happened on the Grazzralk Sea, and on the mysterious alien derelict, and will pay them each 500 credits, half in advance, if they will do so.